New study says life on Earth has another good 1.75 billion years to go...unless we humans screw it up beforehand

How Much Longer Can Earth Support Life?
[Life on Earth has another good 1.75 billion years to go, study says]
by Wynne Parry 
LiveScience
Sep. 18, 2013 

Earth could continue to host life for at least another 1.75 billion years, as long as nuclear holocaust, an errant asteroid or some other disaster doesn't intervene, a new study calculates.

But even without such dramatic doomsday scenarios, astronomical forces will eventually render the planet uninhabitable. Somewhere between 1.75 billion and 3.25 billion years from now, Earth will travel out of the solar system's habitable zone and into the "hot zone," new research indicates.

These zones are defined by water. In the habitable zone, a planet (whether in this solar system or an alien one) is just the right distance from its star to have liquid water. Closer to the sun, in the "hot zone," the Earth's oceans would evaporate. Of course, conditions for complex life — including humans — would become untenable before the planet entered the hot zone.

But the researchers' main concern was the search for life on other planets, not predicting a timeline for the end of life on this one.

The evolution of complex life on Earth suggests the process requires a lot of time.

Simple cells first appeared on Earth nearly 4 billion years ago. "We had insects 400 million years ago, dinosaurs 300 million years ago and flowering plants 130 million years ago," lead researcher Andrew Rushby of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom said in a statement." Anatomically modern humans have only been around for the last 200,000 years — so you can see it takes a really long time for intelligent life to develop."

Rushby and his colleagues developed a new tool to help evaluate the amount of time available for the evolution of life on other planets: a model that predicts the time a planet would spend in its habitable zone. In the research, published Wednesday in the journal Astrobiology, they applied the model to Earth and eight other planets currently in the habitable zone, including Mars.

They calculated that Earth's habitable-zone lifetime is as long as 7.79 billion years. (Earth is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old.) Meanwhile, the other planets had habitable-zone lifetimes ranging from 1 billion years to 54.72 billion years.

"If we ever needed to move to another planet, Mars is probably our best bet," Rushby said in a statement. "It's very close and will remain in the habitable zone until the end of the sun's lifetime — 6 billion years from now."

While other models have been developed for Earth, they are not suitable for other planets, he added.


Original article published on LiveScience.

Beauty is NOT in the eye of the beholder

credit:  fordreamersandgymrats.tumblr.com

source and credit: fordreamersandgymrats.tumblr.com

A true unique humanitarian: Chinese woman who raised 30 babies who were abandoned at the roadside

DAILY MAIL
July 30, 2012

Lou Xiaoying has been praised in China
for saving more than 30 abandoned babies 

over the years

Lou Xiaoying, now 88 and suffering from kidney failure, found and raised more than 30 abandoned Chinese babies from the streets of Jinhua, in the eastern Zhejiang province where she managed to make a living by recycling rubbish.

She and her late husband Li Zin, who died 17 years ago, kept four of the children and passed the others onto friends and family to start new lives.

Her youngest son Zhang Qilin - now aged just seven - was found in a dustbin by Lou when she was 82.

'Even though I was already getting old I could not simply ignore the baby and leave him to die in the trash. He looked so sweet and so needy. I had to take him home with me,' she said.

'I took him back to our home, which is a very small modest house in the countryside and nursed him to health. He is now a thriving little boy, who is happy and healthy.

'My older children all help look after Zhang Qilin, he is very special to all of us. I named him after the Chinese word for rare and precious.

'The whole thing started when I found the first baby, a little girl back in 1972 when I was out collecting rubbish. She was just lying amongst the junk on the street, abandoned. She would have died had we not rescued her and taken her in.

'Watching her grow and become stronger gave us such happiness and I realised I had a real love of caring for children.

'I realised if we had strength enough to collect garbage how could we not recycle something as important as human lives,' she explained.

'These children need love and care. They are all precious human lives. I do not understand how people can leave such a vulnerable baby on the streets.

[...]

One fan explained: 'She is shaming to governments, schools and people who stand by and do nothing. She has no money or power but she saved children from death or worse.'

'In the local community she is well known and well respected for her work with the abandoned babies. She does her best. She is a local hero. But unfortunately there are far too many abandoned babies in China who have no hope of survival...


(Click here to read the full article on DailyMail)

Accepting responsibility for one`s own life ...

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life IS the source from which self-respect springs.

~ Joan Didion

Children Learn from how they live

Children Learn What They Live
July 12,  2012
by Hasnain's life

Children Learn What They Live ……By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

The time of the youth

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

~ Samuel Ullman

The ups and downs of life liken to that of a rocking boat on the open seas

Legacy of our ancestors...mi familia

stormfront.org

We live our lives through our ancestors...it is their history that makes us stronger.~RSA

I pray to Allah the Almighty, for my ancestors who have since passed away to be forgiven fortheir sins, forgive the accountability in the grave and bestow jannat (heaven) upon them all.

For all the departed souls on both sides of my family, I ask the Almighty Allah to bless us as He blessed the families of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him).

We as the ungrateful creation... (Surah Al-Mulk)

قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِى أَنشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالاٌّبْصَـرَ وَالاٌّفْئِدَةَ قَلِيلاً مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ 

Say: "It is He Who has created you, and endowed you with hearing and seeing, and hearts. Little thanks you give.'' 

(Noble Quran-Surah Al-Mulk, 67:23)

The secret of life - lies in the secret of the soul

http://youtu.be/RbMlhB6KFUY
Uploaded by IntentionDawah on Jun 16, 2011

Vanishing through the sands of time...

There will be a time when my name will completely cease to exist in the mouths of my loved ones, ensuring my legacy to eventually vanish through the sands of time ~RSA

image credit: guardian.co.uk

The futility in seeking the love & affection from your loved ones

The idea of attaining one`s love, recognition or even the slightest amount of affection is very un-forthcoming from the very people you seek it from. In the end it seems futile. No matter what you say or do, it won`t matter or change one iota in your favor. Even if you have to move mountains and earth, from capturing lightening from Mount Olympus or to diving to the deepest seas to get the fabled pearl, it won`t matter one bit to the very people you seek approval from.

After its all said and done, even the slightest amount of love or even a smile would fill the heart with such joy that would transcend boundaries. People like us a rare breed, where we think simply and see the world for what it is and an optimist who always wants and the wishes the best for all. In return all we ask for is respect and recognition of who we are and what we do, it is all a selfless and thankless act for the betterment of people end of the day. A thankless job at heart and nevertheless people never know the whole truth and lengths we go in making things happen for them, keeping them safe and wishing them well - they`ll never know how much they are truly loved. 

But now, I realize it is futile for attaining people`s will and affection. For all you do, it will never soften their stone-hardened heart. We are only mere tools for them to use and discarded after the use has been sufficed. Only their pre-occupations with the worldly distractions keep them shielded from reality and oblivious to the outside world and to peoples feelings. But rest assured we will continue to do the things we do in secret and wish for the well-being of everyone as we already do.  

For in the end, its fruitless to seeks ones approval, to seek ones recognition and respect, to seek ones love and heart. Living your life by other peoples standards, practices and wishes will accomplish nothing and erase your own self-identity. Rather aspiring to be like someone or copying their customs, be unique and a trailblazer by making your own choices and destiny.

Morality and respect are waning in our society now and will only deteriorate until the end time nears. The constant bickering, trickery, back-biting, delving into things of no help or importance as well as the loss of morality especially in our loved ones is ever increasing and not becoming of our character in society.

Only time will tell the complete story how the end will play out...


-RA

The reality of life - Achieving the good things & the bad is "how the whole scheme of things work"

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.

~ Rene Descartes

Photo credit: Wikipedia.org

Difference between a successful man and a failure... (Maxwell Maltz)

Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one's better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas, to take a calculated risk, and to act. 

~ Maxwell Maltz

Tears to give a clearer view of life... (Alex Tan)

Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see Life with a clearer view again.

~ Alex Tan

The walls we build around us...by Jim Rohn

The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy.
~ Jim Rohn

The tragedy of life as said by Benjamin E. Mays

Benjamin E. Mays, credit: Swarthmore.edu

"It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy of life lies in having no goal to reach." 

~ Benjamin E. Mays

The sacred knight`s oath to live your life by

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies, be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth, always speak the truth even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong - that is your oath." 
- Kingdom of Heaven (2005)